Check out the "How to Ask for New Build Advice" thread. That's really hard to read, and we have no idea on the budget. We can do a lot if we know details, and if anything set in stone...

To start, if that's the motherboard for sure, you have to go with the i7-920. It's the only one that will work that's not $550. To be honest, for gaming, this isn't the best choice. The i5-750 is nearly $100 cheaper and performs better in games. If you chose the i5-750 (or i7-860), this is a good board to get: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P. It will last longer, and it's a lot cheaper.

He does NOT need a 1000W power supply. A 650W-750W one would be more tha big enough. Look for ones from Corsair, OCZ or Antec.

Seagate hard drives aren't the best choice right now. How much space does he need? Currently, the best ones are Samsung Spinpoint F3s (500 GB or 1 TB).

definately 1000w is too much, a 650-800w would be fine. corsair makes great power supplies.

asus makes great motherboards.

would have to agree with the hard drive too, I've always had problems with seagates, dying within a year or sometimes less. if he plays a LOT of games and is crazy about performance get him a 10,000rpm hard drive, like a western digital raptor. although it is rather expensive, its worth it. Not a HUGE difference, but something to note. a bigger 7200rpm hard drive would work just fine.

Corsair makes solid memory, as does G.Skill and Kingston, just make sure you get ddr3-1333

beast of a video card, wont need an upgrade or another one for a while

agreeing with madadmiral above me, get windows 7, its vista, but 10x better.

However the Spinpoint F3 has been thrown around this forum alot recently and it is one of the best if not the best Hard drive out right now, but it is also out of stock in mmost places so a close contender would be a WD Caviar Black.

This is important to note because all of this will be given as a gift for Christmas.

The WDs aren't as fast as the Samsung. The Seagate is more of a perception problem, as they had a lot of problems in an earlier version.

The reason the F3s and 7200.12s are better is that they use 500 GB platters. Thus, the data is more dense, and quicker to access. Also, instead of using 4 heads to read 500 GB of data, they only use 2, so there's fewer moving parts. WD still use 250 GB platters, with the exception of the 2 TB drives.

The reason the F3s and 7200.12s are better is that they use 500 GB platters. Thus, the data is more dense, and quicker to access. Also, instead of using 4 heads to read 500 GB of data, they only use 2, so there's fewer moving parts. WD still use 250 GB platters, with the exception of the 2 TB drives.

I prefer to suggest the F3 (obviously) mainly because it's not a Seagate. Seagate's going to have to prove something before the company gets over the crappy 7200.11. But if the Samsung's are still sold out...

I prefer to suggest the F3 (obviously) mainly because it's not a Seagate. Seagate's going to have to prove something before the company gets over the crappy 7200.11. But if the Samsung's are still sold out...

To note, I was not speaking of the 1TB WD, but rather the WD 640gb black which i own 2 of. Got them on sale during black friday for just under $40ea. I am very pleased with the performance of the drives and have not had any problems with them. To the OP it seems that you have gotten some good build advice. Goodluck with your build.